Monday, April 16, 2007

Geneva, round I

March was spent back home in Geneva, Switzerland. Well... mostly. My first week was wonderfully quiet, I saw my godparents, spent time with my grandfather and cousin Laetitia (aka Da Vinci), attended International Women's Day 2007 at the ILO, visited my high school to discuss the possibilities of a) doing a clothes' drive for Bolivia and b) setting up a longer term project with Bolivia, discovered the new Pictet & Cie building (see Cricri on the right), had dinner with Verena and her crew, caught up with old friends, went to a job interview, saw family, went to the movies, organized brunch, ate 3am koresh with Markus after he redefined the meaning of "thud"... Aaah, so very great. Photo on left, dinner my 2nd night back with the godparents et co! This here was a pseudo modelage of hats, featuring Pamina (vegetarian wearing dead animal on her head), Christophe (trying one of the Bolivian styles), my mom (sporting a motorbike helmet bc that's as close as anyone will let her get to driving one of those things), and Andrea (showing of a Cholita's hat). Other photo on left, Markus and I post-brunch. Photo on the right, Sab doing her thing at Shakers', hehe. New location, same place.

Then there was the three day escapade with my dad - well technically that came in the middle of what I was describing before, but today I am rebelling against chronological order so bear with me... We went to Barcelona and walked until our legs wouldn't take us a step further, ate lots of fish and tapas and other yummies, visited touristy spots like the Cathedral, the Sagrada Familia, the Picasso Museum, Park Guell, Miro Foundation, etc. We even went to a Flamenco show, and discovered EasyNetCafes, the Easyjet version of internet cafes... Not bad! It was my second time in Barcelona and there is no doubt about it: I like that city. Photos on the left: my dad and I at the top of Park Guell , and one of the stunning inside views of the Sagrada Familia - Gaudi was definitely a genius, his works are much too fantastic to be blamed on drugs. The Sagrada Familia Museum explains some of his work, what it is based on, the engineering and physics' concepts he used to bring it to life... Really nuts. Right up there with Einstein! Photo on the right, inside of the Cathedral with a sighting of the geese who live there! Apparently they make fantastic guards, possibly even better than a Doberman... and of course, they are edible. Not sure if that came into the equation of logic as to why have geese rather than dogs, but there you have it.